Greetings friends,
Spring is in the air! Well, maybe. We still have lots of snow, but as we enter March it begins the season of spring. Enjoy this Lenten Spring devotion from Shelley Cramm:
"If you want to understand the ways of the Lord, plant asparagus.
Early in spring, the asparagus bed is just a bed, a plain patch of dirt. But leave for a week long trip, and upon your return you may find the tender spears have shot up to over three feet tall! Where there had been nothing, now triumphant stalks stand proud and graceful, bursts of life from barren ground. Amazing! These are not precious little tips peeking through the soil, but stems strong and plentiful, a full plot reporting the week of warming weather. There is nothing new in this story, especially if you are a seasoned gardener, but it springs up two points: First, that we can hear spring stories like this — seeds sprouting, bare trees leafing out, flower buds swelling to bloom — but when we see them, when they are our personal experience and when we personally stand in awe at their appearance, that is another matter altogether (Job 42:5). We know; we believe! Life has burst up from the sleeping soil before our very eyes and sends joy, resilience and wonder surging through our soul.
Secondly, that the garden stewards the story of spring, the resurrection story: What was dead comes back to life. The moment simply speaks to us of Jesus' resurrection, an event the returning array of asparagus imprints on us with a deeper intensity. The bare plot turned vegetable crop shows us new birth and a living hope (1 Peter 1:3 – 4), a graphic and delicious account of death to life."
May we be a people that can remember and reflect on the fact that we are indeed a resurrection people. That what is dead comes back to life. There is indeed hope!
Blessings,
Pastor Josh
